The Government must act tough on militants
Coming close on the heels of the beheading of two Indian soldiers along the border, the abduction and murder of a young Indian Army officer, lt Ummer Fayaz, is indeed shocking. This, especially when the young Indian Army officer was not even on duty. He was unarmed and had taken leave to attend a family wedding, from where he was abducted. The situation at this moment in Kashmir valley is so grim that no amount of condemnation will suffice. What is required is a befitting reply to the jihadi elements. The time now is for action and the Government must pull up its socks and give a befitting reply to both, the jihadis and also Pakistan, whose role in providing support to the Islamists has been well established. Islamabad deserves no amount of leniency but a strong decisive step on part of the Government of the surgical strike kind. In the case of lt Fayaz, what is surprising is that none had either reported about his abduction or even cared to recover his bullet-riddled body from the site where the militants dumped him. Even as the death of our security personnel is a moment of grief and must be condemned in the strongest possible terms, it was shocking ing that some of the locals sought to obstruct the Army from giving a proper state burial to him. Instead, clashes broke out and stones were pelted at the Army to deter it from conducting the burial. This is in sharp contrast to the burial given to slain Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani, which saw an unprecedented outpour of young Kashmiris for whom he was some sort of an inspiration.
In fact, there has been a change in the nature of militancy in the valley. Initially, both our forces and the locals, especially young ones, were the target of the militants. However, the situations as it exist today is that the locals work hand in gloves with the militants to keep the atmosphere charged up. The militants have been using the youth as soft targets to propel their dubious agenda. They do not want young Muslim youth to join mainstream activities. Rightly so, incidents like these instill a sense of fear in the minds of young ones to take up the mainstream job. There have been numerous cases where the militants have barged into the houses of police officers and have warned them of dire consequences if they take up the Army job. In one particular instance, a police officer was asked to announce his resignation from a loudspeaker from a mosque. And what would one say about the Dangal girl Zaira Wasim, who was threatened, abused and even received threatening calls for having served as a role model for young KashmirisIJ All of these are but a clear case of hate-mongering to deter Kashmiris to be part of the mainstream. Worst of all, while all mainstream politicians have condemned the killing, the silence of the separatists speaks volumes. They are the ones who speak the loudest about supposed state negligence of Kashmiri aspirations, but have nothing to say when Kashmiris are silenced by militants.